You can find lots of "favorite Ghostbuster" topics (including here ) but what about the characters who may not go out and bust ghosts all the time, but make the Ghostbusters' lives more interesting? I think we were the first ones to do this topic, so it's worth bringing to the new pad.

So who's your favorite supporting character?

I guess mine will surprise no one: the Ghostbusters' ever-efficient and long-suffering secretary (or, as GBI calls'em these days, "Client Administrator") Janine Melnitz.

She was interesting enough in the first movie--a lot of spit and vinegar, someone who could keep up with Venkman in an insult fight, yet demonstrated a much softer side when dealing with Egon Spengler.

It was even more shocking when she made it onto Saturday morning with her personality intact--indeed, the cartoon character was even mouthier and more abraisive at times, and...er, yeah, they drew her a lot hotter than she was in the first movie, to boot.

Even better, she still had her soft spot for Egon Spengler...we discovered Laura Summer and Maurice LaMarche had a great chemistry as writers like JMS and Richard Mueller slowly advanced their relationship along.

Basically, in the Saturday Morning Ghetto filled with Token Females and Mommy Figures, she was a loud, gutsy stand-out.

Of course, it couldn't last.

ABC f***ed with the show, insisting Janine was too "unlikeable", and Laura Summer was fired. Her replacement, Kath Soucie, and the writers changed the character into Yet Another Bland Mommy Figure.

Maybe even worse was Ghostbusters 2, where she was taken in the opposite direction and written as a desperate, hot-to-trot bimbo panting for Louis Tully, a guy she barely knew and hadn't seen in five years.

JMS managed to salvage the character late in the game, though. "The Ghostbusters Live From Al Capone's Tomb" pretty obviously made it clear the Janine/Louis thing was history (she kisses Egon in full sight of the accountant/lawyer). And then of course was his late masterpiece, "Janine You've Changed", which both explained the changes to the character and had Egon finally admit he loved her to boot.

In Extreme Ghostbusters Pat Musick played an older, more subdued but still feisty Janine, still in love with Egon (Louis Tully isn't even mentioned) Other than the fact that they forgot "Janine You've Changed" existed (by all rights, Egon and Janine should've started the show already married!), it was a pretty worthy effort in my estimation.

(Maybe it seems, based on the old forum's version of this topic, a little unfair to consider her a supporting character...but she's not a full Ghostbuster either, and putting her there would have left open arguments about Slimer and Louis. I guess, really, she's in a class of her own )

Hmm...I guess I'll pick the city official who told Peck the walls in the 7th Precint were bleeding. Why? I dunno, he just never gets mentioned anywhere else and I feel bad for him. He always had this look and tone of voice like "God help me, these fools (everyone) are gonna' get me killed. I knew I should have moved to Vermont when I had the chance."